St Josephs Catholic Primary School, Lancaster

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 5 June 2024

Pupils are happy at this welcoming school where differences between people are valued and nurtured. Pupils feel loved and accepted. This helps them to feel safe and secure. The school wants the best for pupils' achievement. However, in some subjects, this aim is not realised. Weaknesses in how well the curriculum is delivered in these subjects mean that some pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), do not develop a deep body of knowledge over time. They do not achieve as well as they could. Pupils generally behave well. They are kind to one another and most play cooperatively together. Pupils delight in the array of rewards that they receive for behaving well and working hard. However, staff have varied expectations of pupils' behaviour. At times, some pupils do not behave as well as they should. Pupils are proud to care for their local and wider community. They learn that they can make a positive difference by raising money for charities. Pupils benefit from the opportunities that the school provides beyond the academic curriculum. For example, they spoke excitedly about visiting the seaside and attending clubs. This helps pupils to develop confidence and broaden their interests.

What the school should improve

• In several subjects, pupils have gaps in their knowledge due to weaknesses in the previous curriculum. This makes it difficult for them to make connections when they learn new content and results in a superficial understanding of some concepts. The school should ensure that staff are suitably equipped to use assessment strategies with confidence and accuracy, ensuring that gaps in pupils' learning are identified and addressed quickly.
• In many subjects, the school is not effective at evaluating the delivery and impact of the curriculum. This means that some weaknesses are not identified and acted on a timely manner. This hinders pupils' achievement in these subjects. The school should ensure that it gathers and evaluates monitoring information effectively so that it can quickly address any shortcomings in the implementation of subject curriculums.
• Many pupils are absent from school too often. This means that they miss important learning and have gaps in their knowledge. The school should ensure that it quickly and decisively reduces the rates of persistent absenteeism so that pupils attend school regularly and achieve well.
• The school's expectations for pupils' behaviour are not consistently high. In some lessons and subjects, some pupils do not display positive attitudes towards their learning. On occasion, this can interrupt other pupils' learning. The school should raise its expectations for pupils' behaviour and ensure that staff follow the agreed approaches consistently well.
• Some staff do not engage in high-quality interactions with children in the early years. This means that some children do not learn the key vocabulary that they need to deepen their learning. The school should train all staff to use their conversations with children to enhance learning.

Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)